


High School Musical

by ot7mikrokosm



Series: High School Musical the Series [1]
Category: High School Musical (Movies), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Actor Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Actor Kim Seokjin | Jin, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - High School Musical Fusion, Angst, Basketball, Basketball Player Jeon Jungkook, Basketball Player Min Yoongi | Suga, Breaking stereotypes, Crush at First Sight, Dancer Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, First Love, Fluff, High School Student Jeon Jungkook, High School Student Kim Taehyung | V, High School Student Park Jimin (BTS), Jeon Jungkook is a Sweetheart, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope is a Sweetheart, Kim Namjoon | RM is Whipped, Kim Taehyung | V is a Sweetheart, M/M, Min Yoongi | Suga Is a Little Shit, Nerd Kim Taehyung | V, Nerd Park Jimin (BTS), New Year's Eve, Park Jimin (BTS) is a Little Shit, Seokjin is a bitch, Shy Kim Taehyung | V, Singer Hoseok, Singer SeokJin, Slow Burn, Taehyung has social anxiety, adora as kelsey, and lots of stage fright, basketball player namjoon, dancer seokjin, drama teacher bang shihyuk, for Seokjin, high school student jung hoseok, high school student kim namjoon, high school student kim seokjin, high school student min yoongi, hoseok as ryan, jimin as taylor, jungkook as troy, momo as martha, namjoon as zeke, seokjin as sharpay, seokjin just wants what's best for the drama department, taehyung as gabriella, winter musical, yoongi as chad, yugyeom as jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22853725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ot7mikrokosm/pseuds/ot7mikrokosm
Summary: Jungkook and Taehyung meet by chance at a New Year's Eve party at the ski resort they are on vacation at with their families after both are forced to participate in a surprise karaoke performance. They are immediately captivated by each other and can't stop thinking about each other.Fast forward one week later, Taehyung is a new student at the school where Jungkook is the captain of the basketball team and the most popular boy in school. Now, life as everyone knew it is turned upside down when the lines between cliques become blurred surrounding the auditions of the school's winter musical.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin
Series: High School Musical the Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642966
Comments: 18
Kudos: 91





	1. Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is!! The long awaited Taekook centric HSM au!! I'm so excited for this and I hope you enjoy!! <3

**_New Year’s Eve_ **

A blanket of snow covered the ground and rooftop of the ski resort that many family’s chose to vacation at over the holiday season. Very few people were out on the slopes at that moment, most visitors opting to stay in the warmth and participate in the various parties taking place for any and all age groups. However, there were some that chose to not even participate in those, like a certain teenage boy, who was sporting his comfiest pajamas while curled up on a couch in the lounge with the book that had most recently captured his attention.

A beautiful woman stepped into the lounge, large eyes scanning the area until they finally landed on her son. She sighed in exasperation as she approached him, prying the book out of his hands. “Tae, it’s New Year’s Eve! Enough with the reading!”

Taehyung started whining, trying to pull the book back to himself. “But I’m almost done!”

She gave the 17-year-old a look. “You promised you would go to the teen party tonight and try to make some friends.” Taehyung pouted. “Come on, I already laid out an outfit for you.”

Taehyung sighed a he stood up from the couch, holding his hand out. “Can I at least have my book back?” After giving the teenager a look that said, ‘ _you better not just curl back up_ ’, she complied, handing Taehyung his book back. Taehyung took it with a smile, holding it to his chest as he made his way to their room so he could get dressed.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

On the other end of the resort, another teenage boy was skipping out on the teen party, but not to read a book. He and his dad were caught up in an intense basketball scrimmage, as they had been for hours at that point. His mother walked into the recreational room, a look of frustration on her face at the sight of her son and husband doing the exact same thing they had done every single day of vacation…and every single day of their lives prior to that.

“Keep going left, Jungkook!” His dad encouraged as the 16-year-old moved back to position. “You’re gonna have everyone guarding you during the championship game, you gotta keep them on their toes!”

“…by going left?” Jungkook asked, not quite sure what the correlation was.

Jungkook’s dad nodded. “Yep, you wait until he thinks you’re going right, and you fake him out and go left.”

“Like this?” Before his dad could react, Jungkook faked right and broke to the left, shooting the ball and making it in the basket.

His father applauded him. “Keep doing that, that’s exactly what I want to see in the game!”

Jungkook’s mother decided to make her appearance known by groaning loudly, interrupting their excited planning. “Did we really fly all this way just to play even more basketball?”

Jungkook and his dad shared a look before responding. “Yeah~”

She sighed. “It’s the last night of vacation!” She held her arms out to show off her outfit. “We’re supposed to be going to a party tonight!” She lovingly reminded her husband.

“Right, party, yes. I totally remember!”

She rolled her eyes before turning to her son. “Jungkook, they have that kid’s party that I told you about if you want to go check it out.”

Jungkook raised an eyebrow in disgust. “ _Kid’s party_?’

“Young adult, teen, whatever you wanna call it.” She walked over to her son and nudged him towards the door. “Just go shower and try to have some fun.”

Jungkook ran to grab the ball, begging his mom to let them have on more round. She sighed, and Jungkook knew he won, so he quickly made another shot, high fiving his dad before finally granting his mom’s wish.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook looked around the party, wrinkling his nose as he realized it was just as lame as he knew it would be back when his mom had first mentioned it. Sighing, he made his way to a not as populated corner, near the stage that currently had two people performing a duet on it, to park himself for the ten minutes he planned on staying.

Taehyung entered on the other side of the room, clutching his book tightly to his chest as he looked around the party with wide eyes. He ducked his head, trying to make himself as small as possible while he looked for a quiet place to settle down. He finally found a small couch tucked slightly away from everyone else and sat himself down on it, opening his book up to tune out the world around him.

The song the couple was performing ended, and the host of the night climbed up on stage, encouraging everyone to give them a round of applause. “How’s that for a couple of snowboarders?!” Jungkook clapped politely, although he wasn’t even sure if the two had been good or not as he hadn’t been paying attention. “Let’s see who our special spotlight will pick next!” The host announced after the two previous singers climbed off the stage, two spotlights suddenly shining brightly and moving around the room in search of victims.

Jungkook was mid yawn when he was suddenly blinded by one of these spotlights, raising his hand in front of his face in an attempt to save his vision. “What?” He asked innocently as some of the people standing near him started pushing him in the direction of the stage.

Taehyung suddenly felt the world go bright, causing him to look up from his book and squint. _Why is there a light on me?_ He asked himself as someone started tugging him off the couch. “What’s going on?”

“Congratulations you two!” The host exclaimed as the pair finally took their spots on stage, against their own will of course. “Good luck!” He patted both of them on the back, stepping off the stage just as the opening notes of whatever song they were supposed to sing rang through the room.

Jungkook sighed, glancing over at the other person. He saw a boy close to his own age with curly black hair and caramel tinted skin. The boy looked somewhat scared, hugging himself as he looked around the room. The basketball player looked up at the screen to see that the first part was coming up. Considering how nervous the other guy looked and realizing that literally no one at the party was paying them any attention, Jungkook cleared his throat and leaned closer to the microphone, letting the first few words flow out of him just to get it over with. “ _Living in my own world…didn’t understand…that anything can happen…when you take a chance…_ ”

When the boy next to him started singing, Taehyung dared to take a glance at him, taking in the bulging arm muscles, big eyes, and soft looking hair the male sported. He looked back at the screen and took a deep breath, telling himself that if this stranger could sing in front of the crowd, then he could too. Right before his part started, Taehyung closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

When his first part finished, Jungkook stepped back, looking around boredly. His attention was suddenly captured, however, by the sudden honeylike voice that attacked his senses. “ _I never believed in…_ ” Jungkook looked over at the boy next to him with wide eyes, completely captivated by his voice. “… _what I couldn’t see…I never opened my heart…to all the possibilities…_ ”

The next part of the song was a true duet, the two boys sharing shy glances as time went on. By the time the chorus came, the both of them found it difficult to look away from each other, losing themselves in the music and their partner. They didn’t even notice when the other partygoers started tuning into them, reacting to their performance as if they were at a concert for the biggest boyband in the world.

By the end of the song, the two were dancing with each other, gazing into each other’s eyes with the last few notes of the song. “ _The start of something new~_ ”

As the crowd around them screamed, the two boys were still only focused on the person in front of them. “Jungkook~” The basketball player said, holding his hand towards the other.

“Taehyung~” The bookworm responded, shaking Jungkook’s hand.

After they were escorted off the stage, the two decided to keep speaking, finding some complimentary mugs of hot chocolate and making their way to the deck outside. “You have an amazing voice!” Jungkook exclaimed for the tenth time since their duet ended, Taehyung blushing once again. “You’re a singer, right?”

“Only in church choir.” Taehyung responded, clutching his mug to warm his hands. “I tried doing a solo once and passed out.”

“Really?” Jungkook asked, tilting his head. “Why?”

Taehyung shrugged. “One second I was looking at the crowd, and the next I was looking at the ceiling. I get so nervous when I’m up there by myself, that I just can’t do it.”

“Well, the way you were up there tonight, I find that hard to believe.”

Taehyung eyes widened slightly. “That’s the first time anything like that has ever happened! It was exhilarating!”

Jungkook nodded eagerly. “Right?!”

“You sound like you’ve sung a lot, too.” Taehyung pointed out, brining his hot chocolate to his lips to take a sip.

Jungkook snorted. “Yeah, my showerhead is my number one fan.”

Taehyung giggled as the crowd around them began to count down.

_10_

_9_

_8_

_7_

_6_

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2_

_1_

_Happy New Year!_

The two looked around somewhat awkwardly as it began to snow, fireworks lighting up the sky while the few couples around them began to share their first kiss of the new year.

Taehyung suddenly cleared his throat, stepping back from Jungkook as if just realizing how close they were standing. “I should go find my mom. Wish her a happy new year.”

Jungkook chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, me too. But with my mom…and dad.” Taehyung nodded, biting his lip as if he were contemplating asking something. “Can I get your number?” Jungkook suddenly blurted out, Taehyung’s eyes widening. “So I can call you tomorrow or something?” Taehyung smiled and nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He looked up to hand it to Jungkook only to be caught by surprise when Jungkook took a picture of him. “I needed a contact photo.” Jungkook explained, handing his phone to Taehyung so he could type his number in.

“Right~” Taehyung mumbled, handing his phone to Jungkook. Jungkook put his number in Taehyung’s phone and quickly took a selfie so that he could have a contact photo too.

The two exchanged their phones back once they were done. Jungkook immediately pulled up Taehyung’s number while still talking. “Just so you know, singing with you was the most fun I’ve had on this entire vacation.” He chuckled. “So, where are you from?” He looked up, only to see that Taehyung was long gone, presumably to go find his mom like he had said. He deflated a bit at the male’s absence, but found a smile spreading across his face again as he looked down at his phone and saw the picture of Taehyung displayed on the screen. “Taehyung~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are you most looking forward to with this fic?


	2. Getcha Head in the Game

**_One Week Later_ **

Various groups of friends mingled outside the school building, excited to see each other after winter break. Some of the members of the basketball team took up the center part of the lawn, already practicing drills, and some even flirting with cheerleaders. They all dropped what they’re doing when a school bus pulled up and Jungkook stepped onto the sidewalk.

“Kook!” Yoongi exclaimed, running up to the taller male and wrapping his arm around his shoulders as best he could, his other hand holding tight onto his basketball. “How’s it going?”

Jungkook shrugged before responding to his best friend. “Pretty good, what’s up?” The captain of the basketball team barely heard the other male’s reply as they were soon swarmed by the rest of the team and the cheerleaders that were crushing on them. “Happy New Year, everyone!”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be a happy Wildcat new year!” Yoongi gushed as the group made their way up the stairs and into the building. “In two weeks, we’re going to the championships with you,” Yoongi pressed the ball into Jungkook’s chest, the taller male taking hold of it, “leading us to infinity and beyond.” The group behind them cheered as Yoongi started their school chant. “WHAT TEAM?”

“WILDCATS!”

“WHAT TEAM?”

“WILDCATS!”

“WHAT TEAM?”

“WILDCATS!”

“WILDCATS!”

“GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME!”

Just inside the school, Seokjin was walking swiftly down the hall with his shadow, also known as his stepbrother, Hoseok, trailing just behind him. He was completely focused on his phone, furiously texting other members of the drama club about the upcoming auditions, causing people to jump out of his way lest he run them over. The basketball team that approached them didn’t move out of his way in time, so he threw his hands up as if he were Moses parting the red sea, ignoring the mocking comments that were given in return.

“The ice prince has returned from the North Pole.” Namjoon commented, although his cheeks were starting to turn a light shade of pink.

“He probably spent his holidays the way he always does?” Yugyeom asked Yoongi what he meant by that. “Shopping for even more mirrors.” Everyone laughed as if that were the funniest joke they had ever heard before continuing to their individual lockers.

At the bulletin board for student activities, Jimin stood, watching them leave in annoyance before rolling his eyes. “Behold the cavemen heralding the new year.” He shared a look with his friends as the first bell rang. His mood quickly changed as he smiled and waved bye to them before making his way to homeroom.

As the hallways began to clear out, not very many students wanting to be late on the first day back to school, Taehyung and his mother followed behind the school principal. Taehyung suddenly turned to his mom with worry, clutching his stomach. “Mom, my stomach-“

“You’re just a bit nervous because it’s your first day.” She assured him, running her hand through his hair. “I’d be worried if you weren’t nervous.” Taehyung’s worry didn’t clear away, so his mom continued with, “And I made the company promise no more transfers until after you graduate. No more moving.” Taehyung took a deep breath and nodded as Principle Bang began speaking.

“Your transcripts are extremely impressive.” He stated, smiling at the 17-year-old. “I can already tell that your light will shine brightly here at East High.”

Taehyung’s worry returned and he turned back to his mom. “I don’t want to be the school’s freaky genius boy again.”

His mother encased his face in her hands and looked him in the eyes. “Then just be Taehyung.” She leaned up to press a kiss to his forehead before releasing him. Principal Bang gestured for the teenager to follow him, so Taehyung slowly stepped away from his mom, looking back at her multiple times as he followed the principal up the stairs to his new homeroom.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Heechul sat on his throne, yes, his literal throne, at the front of his classroom, ignoring the energetic, chatty teenagers for as long as he could before he absolutely had to deal with them. He only looked up from his tea and newspaper when an unfamiliar boy approached him, holding out the new student papers that every teacher could recognize from a mile away.

The four members of the basketball team that shared the same homeroom were all sitting on top of their desks, passing Yoongi’s basketball between each other. “So, did anything memorable happen on vacation?” Yugyeom asked Jungkook, as he had gone on the coolest vacation out of all of them.

Jungkook shook his head. “All I really remember is dumplings.” As soon as he finished his statement, Jungkook noticed a somewhat familiar head of hair making their way to the back of the room.

Before he could get a better look at the unknown person, his sight was suddenly filled with Seokjin’s smiling face. “Hi, Jungkook~” Seokjin greeted cheerily after having kicked Yugyeom off his desk so he could sit directly in front of the basketball captain.

“Hi,” Jungkook responded unenthusiastically, ignoring Seokjin’s giggles as the tardy bell rang.

As soon as the bell finished ringing, Heechul was standing up and directing the class’ attention to himself. “I trust you all had splendid holidays.” He began his welcome back speech, already approaching Jungkook who was still sitting on top of his desk, craning his head to try to see the student in the back who was bent over and looking through their backpack. “Check the sign-up sheets on the student activities board-Mr. Jeon-“ Jungkook jumped slightly before quickly sliding into his seat. “Especially our winter musicale. We will have singles auditions…”

Yoongi tuned out their teacher’s speech as he tapped on Jungkook’s shoulder, looking at his best friend in concern. “You okay? “ He mouthed, earning a nod from Jungkook.

“Mr. Min!” Yoongi looked up with wide eyes. “This is a place of learning, not a hockey arena.” The male frowned as he removed his basketball from his desk but refused to put it anywhere else other than his lap. “There is also a final sign up for next week’s scholastic decathlon competition. Chem Club president, Park Jimin, can answer all of your questions about that.” Jimin raised his hand high in the air and waved it just to make sure everyone knew she was referring to him while Yoongi snorted at the male’s action.

Meanwhile, Jungkook had become mostly convinced that the person in their classroom was Taehyung, the boy that had been in his thoughts since New Year’s Eve. While Heechul was distracted with talking, he slipped his phone out of his pocket and went to his contacts, clicking on Taehyung’s number. The sound of a cell phone blared throughout the classroom, causing Jungkook to tense both from realizing that Taehyung really was in that classroom and also from the fact that he had unintentionally alerted his teacher, one of the anti-cell phone people he knew. “Ah, the cell phone menace has returned to our crucible of learning.” Taehyung quickly started digging through his backpack to turn his phone off while Seokjin and Hoseok, completely unbothered by the rules, pulled theirs out, confused when they saw that neither of them had any notifications. “Seokjin, Hoseok, cell phones.” Seokjin’s jaw dropped in shock before settling into a pout as he begrudgingly dropped his phone into Heechul’s infamous cell phone bucket. “I will see you two in detention.”

Taehyung was staring at Jungkook’s contact photo in confusion, wondering why the male was suddenly calling him, as Heechul stopped next to his desk. “We have zero tolerance for cell phones in class, so we will get to know each other in detention.” He held his bucket out to Taehyung, who quietly dropped his cell phone in. “Welcome to East High, Mr. Kim.” Heechul moved back to the front of the room without missing a beat, stopping next to Jungkook’s desk as the male had been too slow to hide his phone. “Mr. Jeon, I see your phone is involved as well. I look forward to seeing you in detention, too.” He held the bucket out for Jungkook to place his phone inside.

“Heechul, your honor,” Yoongi blurted out, “I’m afraid that can’t happen.” Heechul’s glare fixated on the male. “We have basketball practice after school, and Jungkook-“

“15 minutes for you, Mr. Min.” Yoongi’s face fell at that. “You can count them.”

Jimin snorted quietly before whispering to the girl next to her. “He probably can’t even count that high.”

Yoongi turned around to glare at him while Heechul responded to the comment he obviously heard too. “Park Jimin,” Jimin looked up in surprise, “15 minutes.” Jimin opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it when Heechul slammed his cell phone bucket on Jungkook’s desk, causing the rest of the class to jump. “Any more takers?” He didn’t even give the students a chance to respond before continuing. “Holidays are over, people! Can I finish giving the daily announcements I’m required to inform you all of, or would anyone else like to waste my time?”

Yugyeom slowly raised his hand, causing Heechul to roll his eyes and ask him what he wanted. “How were _your_ holidays, Mr. Heechul sir?” Groans filled the room as the rest of the class turned to look at him in disbelief. “What?”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Once the bell ran to finally dismiss the hell that was homeroom with Heechul, Taehyung hopped up out of his chair, excited to see Jungkook again after realizing he was at the same school, and in the same class, as the male thanks to the cell phone debacle.

Jungkook and the rest of the basketball team members were the first ones out of the class just after Seokjin and Hoseok, the captain moving to lean against the wall just next to the door. “Sorry, man~” Jungkook said to Yoongi as the male walked past him to his own class.

Yoongi shrugged. “See you in detention.”

Jungkook waited on the wall until he saw Taehyung exiting the classroom, looking around as if searching for something. He rushed over to him and grabbed his arm to get his attention. “Hey!”

Taehyung widened his eyes in surprise, still not fully grasping onto the fact that Jungkook was standing right in front of him. “I can’t-“

“-believe it!” Jungkook finished for him.

Taehyung let out a small chuckle. “Me-“

“-neither!” Jungkook finished once again. “How-“

Now it was Taehyung’s turn to interrupt Jungkook. “My mom’s company transferred her here.” He informed the basketball player. “I can’t believe you live here! I looked for you at the lodge on New Year’s Day.”

Jungkook lightly nudged Taehyung, encouraging him to start walking down the hallway, falling into step with him. “We had to leave first thing in the morning.” He explained, his voice lowered into an almost whisper.

Taehyung raised an eyebrow. “Why are you whispering?”

“Oh, uh…” Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. “My friends don’t really know about the singing thing yet.” As he finished his sentence, a random student passing by greeted and high fived him.

“Too much for them to handle?” Taehyung asked with a laugh, studying his schedule and map to try to find his way to his next class.

Jungkook shook his head a bit too quickly. “No, trust me, that was so cool! But my friends…it’s just not really my thing.” Jungkook settled for that as an explanation. “That was like a whole different person that night.” Taehyung suddenly turned and walked in front of Jungkook to go down another hallway, surprising the basketball player briefly. Jungkook was quick to follow him. “Anyway, welcome to East High!” He noticed that they were coming up on the student activities board, gaze falling on the sign-up sheet for the musical auditions. “And now that you’ve met Heechul, I’m sure you just can’t wait to sign up for that.”

Taehyung glanced at the piece of paper before snorting. “I won’t be signing up for anything for a while. I just wanna get to know the school.” He looked back at Jungkook. “But if _you_ sign up, I’d definitely buy a ticket.”

Jungkook fake laughed. “Yeah sure, like that’s not totally impossible.”

Seokjin suddenly appeared, leaning against the student activities board in front of them. “What’s impossible, Jungkook? I didn’t even realize that word was in your vocabulary.” Taehyung looked the newcomer up and down, not sure exactly what to think of him just yet. Then Seokjin’s gaze fell on him, eyes narrowing slightly. “It’s so nice of you to show the transfer student around!” He turned to the musical sign up sheet, pulling out his signature pink pen and signing his name so it took up nearly the entire piece of paper. Jungkook looked around awkwardly while Taehyung just raised an eyebrow at the obvious power play the male was trying to pull off. Seokjin then turned around to them with an expression of mock realization. “Oh, were you going to sign up, too?” He didn’t even wait for them to respond before bragging. “My brother and I have starred in all the school’s productions, and we always welcome newcomers to participate! Lots of supporting roles to fill, I’m sure we could find something for you!” He gave Taehyung a not so friendly smile.

Taehyung shook his head with a smile. “Nope, I was just looking. There’s a lot going on at this school.” The new student moved to continue on his journey to find his next class, glancing at Seokjin’s signature before looking back at him. “Nice penmanship~” Seokjin nodded, smile dropping once Taehyung was down the hallway.

Jungkook tried to sneak away, but Seokjin was quicker, bright smile once again on his face. “So, Jungkook, I missed you during vacation! What did you do?”

Being the polite person he is, Jungkook returned Seokjin’s smile, at a smaller volume, and partook in the conversation. “The usual, basketball, snowboarding, more basketball.”

Seokjin giggled. “When’s the big game?”

“In two weeks~”

“You are so dedicated.” Seokjin’s tone was heavy with the flirting. “Just like me!” Jungkook laughed, as if he didn’t expect Seokjin to turn to conversation around to compliment himself. “Promise me you’ll come watch me in the musical?” Jungkook nodded noncommittally before turning around to walk off. “Toodles!” Seokjin called after him before heading to his own class.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook spent the class period dedicated to basketball outside of their after-school practices in a daze. Realizing he was once again lost in his thoughts, he shook himself out of it and turned to Yoongi who was busy stretching. “Dude, you know that musical thing? Is it true you get extra credit if you audition?”

Yoongi snorted. “Who cares?”

“Extra credit is always a good thing.” The captain responded with a shrug. “Helps out with college.”

“Do you think Lebron James or Kobe Bryant ever auditioned for their school musical?” Jungkook shrugged again as if to say it was a possibility. “Jungkook, the music in those shows isn’t cool. It’s not hip hop or rock. It’s show tunes with costumes and makeup. It’s terrifying.”

Realizing just how against the musical his best friend was, Jungkook played down his interest. “Yeah, of course, I just thought it’d make for a good laugh. And Seokjin’s kinda cute, too.”

Yoongi stared at Jungkook with wide eyes. “So are tigers.” He stepped closer, taking the ball out of Jungkook’s hands. “But you don’t pet them.”

Jungkook sighed, calling for the team to pair up to work on some drills, but he once again found himself unable to focus. His mind instead kept drifting to Taehyung and the musical. It didn’t help that the echoes of the balls hitting the floor and squeaks of the shoes sounded like they could be the melody to a song, to the point that he felt like he might break into song and dance. By the end of practice, the number one thought in his head was that he needed to get his head in the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's your favorite so far?


	3. What I've Been Looking For

Taehyung was busy copying down the equations his teacher was currently writing on the board when a sudden loud voice caused him to jump. He turned to his left to see that Seokjin guy from earlier trying to start a conversation with him. “Seems like you know Jeon Jungkook.”

The new student shook his head. “Nope, not really. He was just showing me around.” He looked back down at his notebook, assuming the conversation was over. It wasn’t.

“That’s interesting.” Seokjin hummed. “Jungkook doesn’t usually engage with new students.”

“Why not?” Taehyung asked out of curiosity, but his attention was split with him still trying to do his work.

Seokjin shrugged. “It’s pretty much basketball 24/7 with him.”

The conversation was long lost on Taehyung as he realized his teacher had made a mistake. “That should be 16 over pi.” He said to himself, Jimin, who was siting on his right looking up in curiosity as he heard him.

The teacher seemingly also heard him as she turned around to him. “Yes, Mr. Kim?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was just…shouldn’t the second equation read 16 over pi?”

Seokjin rolled his eyes in disgust as the teacher responded. “16 over pi? I’m afraid that’s impossible.” Taehyung nodded as if he understood while the teacher went to the calculator to check her work. When the calculator showed Taehyung’s answer, she looked up at him with an impressed look. “I stand corrected. Welcome to East High, Mr. Kim.” Taehyung couldn’t help but smile as he turned back to his own notebook, missing how Jimin was also extremely impressed with him.

Meanwhile, Seokjin’s mouth was dropped open in shock, wondering who this Kim Taehyung was that was winning over everyone so far.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

On his way to class, Jungkook ran by the student activities board to look over the musical audition sign up sheet once more. He read over the details quickly before running off again before anyone could catch him. However, someone did catch him. Someone by the name of Jung Hoseok who was now stalking towards the activities board, grabbing the arm of his stepbrother who happened to be walking by on his way. “What is it, Hoseok?”

“Jeon Jungkook was looking at our audition list.” Hoseok informed the other male.

Seokjin’s eyebrows furrowed. “Again?” Hoseok tilted his head in confusion. “He was hanging around with that new kid and they were both looking at the list.” Hoseok hummed in response at that. “They’re something weird about him. Did he ever say where he’s from?” Seokjin looked over at his stepbrother, only to see that he was distracted by the various flyers on the bulletin board in front them. Seokjin groaned and stomped away, finally capturing Hoseok’s attention as the other male quickly followed after him.

They went straight to the computer lab where Seokjin wasted no time googling Kim Taehyung to see what would come up. He scrolled through multiple articles about various academic awards and competitions the male had won at the various schools he had gone to as he moved around the country. “Wow, a modern-day Einstein.” Hoseok commented. “Why do you think he’s interested in our musical?”

“I don’t think he is.” Seokjin responded. “And it’s not like we need to worry about amateurs anyway.” Seokjin went to print off a couple of the articles he had found. “But there’s nothing wrong with making sure that Taehyung’s welcome to join activities that are appropriate for him. I mean, he does love pi.”

“Pie?” Hoseok whispered to himself as Seokjin got up to collect the articles from the printer.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

**Detention  
Heechul Style**

“It needs more gold!” Heechul practically screamed at the student who was working on the costumes for the musical during his time in detention.

Yoongi was basically just splashing paint onto the fake tree he was assigned to paint, but the second he saw Heechul walking towards him, he quickly started to paint like he actually cared how the prop would turn out. Heechul gave him a pointed look before moving on to direct other students to do their work properly.

Jimin pretended to be working hard until Heechul walked past him, waiting until the teacher was out of sight before rushing over to Taehyung. “The answer is yes!”

Taehyung looked at the shorter male in confusion. “I don’t recall asking you anything?”

“Our scholastic decathlon team has its first competition next week!” Jimin continued despite Taehyung’s confusion. “And there is most definitely a spot for you!”

The new student then noticed the papers clutched in Jimin’s hand, recognizing the articles immediately. “Where did you get those?”

Jimin looked down at them before looking back up with his own look of confusion. “They were in my locker. I assumed you put them in there…”

Taehyung shook his head. “Definitely not.”

“I’m sorry for that then.” Jimin said sincerely. “But regardless, we’d still love for you to be on our team! We meet everyday after school.” Taehyung bit his lip, wanting to say no but also not wanting to disappoint the boy. “Please?”

“I just really need to catch up on the curriculum here before I start any extra curriculars.” Taehyung said.

Seokjin, who had been eavesdropping, decided to make an appearance at that moment. “What better way to get caught up than meeting with the smartest kids in school?!” Seokjin smiled condescendingly at Jimin. “You’re so generous, Jimin!”

“So many new faces in detention today.” Heechul exclaimed, interrupting the trio’s conversation. “Let’s not make this habit, although the drama club can always use an extra hand!” Heechul continued his rounds around the backstage area, moving into one of his infamous rants about cellphones.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Coach Jeon blew his whistle to gather the entire basketball team up for practice, but quickly realized that two very important faces were missing. “Where’s Jungkook and Yoongi?” The entire team stayed quiet. “Don’t make me ask again.” He waited for a response, but when he still didn’t get one, he yelled, “Where’s Jungkook and Yoongi?!”

“Detention~” The entire team answered their coach’s question.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

While Heechul complained about people who stay on their cellphones during plays and musicals, Jungkook was entertaining himself by tickling a sleeping Yoongi’s face with some of the feathers that had been set aside with the other extra props.

“Where’s my team, Heechul?!” Coach Jeon exclaimed as he entered the auditorium, but his question was quickly answered as his eyes fell on his son and his best friend.

“It’s called crime and punishment, Jeon!” Heechul responded. “Plus, proximity to the arts is cleansing for the soul.”

The coach sighed. “We need to talk.” He turned to the two teenagers on the stage. “And you two get in the gym now.” Jungkook quickly dropped his feather, shoving Yoongi to wake him up and dragging him off the stage and out of the auditorium.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“If they get detention, then they get detention.” Coach Jeon was in the middle of complaining to Principal Bang. “But have the detention outside of my practice time!”

Heechul rolled his eyes. “If these were theatre performers and not athletes, would you be seeking special treatment?”

Coach Jeon groaned. “Heechul, we are days away from the biggest game of the year!”

“And we, Jeon, are in the midst of our auditions for our winter musicale!” Heechul turned to the principal. “This school is about more than just young men in baggy shorts flinging balls for homeruns!”

“Baskets!” Coach Jeon exclaimed in frustration. “They shoot baskets!”

Principal Bang held his hands up to stop them. “Guys, you’ve been having this argument since the both of you started working here. We are one school, one team. Can we not get along and try to work together?” Both adults muttered that they could, but still shot each other a glare. “So, Coach, has Jungkook got the team whipped into shape yet?” Heechul scoffed in disappointment before storming out of the office.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

At the end of practice, Coach Jeon gathered all the members up for a pep talk. “The West High Knights have knocked us out of the playoffs three years running. Now we are one game away from taking the championship right back from them! It’s time to make our stand. The team is you. You are the team. And this team does not exist unless each and everyone of you is focused on our goal!”

Yoongi stepped forward to do his job in starting their school cheer. “WHAT TEAM?!”

“WILDCATS!”

“WHAT TEAM?!”

“WILDCATS!”

“WHAT TEAM?!”

“WILDCATS!”

“WILDCATS!”

“GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME!”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

After finally getting out of detention, Jimin and Taehyung walked across the schoolyard while Jimin continued to try to convince Taehyung to join them. “We’ve never made it past the first round of the scholastic decathlon. You could be exactly what the angels have sent us!”

“I just wanna focus on my studies this semester.” Taehyung told Jimin. “And help my mom get our new house organized. But I’ll definitely consider it next year.” Jimin conceded with that, opening his mouth to bid the new student goodbye when Taehyung suddenly asked him a question. “What do you know about Jeon Jungkook?”

“Jungkook?” Jimin asked for clarification, earning a nod from Taehyung. “I don’t really consider myself an expert on that particular sub species. But if you speak fangirl…” Jimin trailed off as he walked up to a group of girls and boys that were known for their immense crushes on the basketball star. “Oh my god, isn’t Jungkook a whole snack?” The group began to squeal, some even commenting that they would pay for Jungkook to spit on them.

Jimin giggled as he took Taehyung’s hand and pulled him away from the group. “Yeah, I definitely don’t speak fangirl.”

“And that’s exactly why we live in a completely different universe from Jungkook the basketball guy.”

Taehyung tilted his head. “Have you ever tried getting to know him?”

The shorter male snorted a bit at Taehyung’s question. “Sit with us at lunch tomorrow and you’ll see exactly how this school works for yourself. Unless you want to sit with the fangirls.” Jimin gestured to the group behind them who were still squealing over Jungkook. Taehyung just laughed while Jimin took his hand again and led him towards the school buses.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook and his dad were still practicing basketball in their yard long after the team’s practice ended. “I still don’t understand why you were in detention in the first place.”

The teenager sighed. “It was my fault, Dad.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Jungkook’s dad responded before barking out a direction for him to practice a specific drill. “Heechul’s got a personal vendetta against me, and he’s gonna use you to get to me.”

Jungkook caught the ball as his dad passed it to him, but instead of jumping into the next drill, he stopped. “Dad, have you ever wanted to try something new but were afraid of what your friends would think?”

“Like going left?” Jungkook’s dad assumed he was talking about basketball. “You’re doing just fine.”

Jungkook dribbled the ball a bit before stopping again. “No, I mean wanting to try something completely new, but all of your friends think it’s stupid and laugh at you.”

Jungkook’s dad nodded a bit before responding. “Well then maybe they’re not actually your friends. That was my whole point about team today. You guys gotta look out for each other, and you’re the leader.”

The teenager groaned a bit. “Dad, I’m not talking about-“

“There’s gonna be college scouts at our game next week.” Jungkook’s dad talked over him. “Do you know what a scholarship is worth these days?” Jungkook nodded that he did. “And that’s why we need to focus. Now come on.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Seokjin handed Heechul a small giftbag just before the bell rang to start homeroom, smiling at the teacher before taking his seat. As the bell rang, Heechul moved to the front of the room. “I trust that everyone has learned proper homeroom manners.” Jungkook glanced over his shoulder at Taehyung, finding the other male already looking at him. Taehyung flashed him a smile, which he quickly returned before turning back to the front. “If not, we do have some dressing rooms that need to be painted. But first, announcements.” Heechul clapped his hands in excitement. “Today during free period will be your chance to audition for our musicale.” Seokjin clapped happily, turning to smile at Hoseok. “I will be in the theatre until noon for those of you who are bold enough to spread your wings and find our creative spirit.”

Yoongi leaned forward and whispered in Jungkook’s ear. “What time is she due back on the mothership?”

After class, Yoongi caught up to Jungkook in the halls. “Hey, we’re all hitting the gym during free period, what do you want us to run?”

“Uh, actually I can’t make it. I gotta catch up on homework.”

Yoongi snorted at Jungkook’s response. “Dude, it’s only the second day back. Even I’m not behind on homework yet.”

Jungkook shrugged. “Yeah, but you know how things go sometimes. I’ll catch you later.”

Yoongi watched him leave. “What are you doing, Jungkook?”

After making sure there was no way any of his friends were following him, Jungkook sneaked away to the theatre, unable to fight his interest in the auditions taking place that day. He hid in the very back of the auditorium, peering around the corner of the wall that led to the lobby. Jungkook watched as Heechul gave a very long drawn out speech about the importance of theatre before finally announcing that the singles auditions would be starting. With the first few auditions, Jungkook found himself cringing at the lack of skill and stage presence the people auditioning had.

It was when the pairs auditions had started that someone tapped Jungkook on the back, making the teenager jump in fear. “Why are you hiding?” Taehyung asked him, eyebrows furrowed in a way that Jungkook found cute.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know.” Jungkook responded. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I could say the same for you.” Taehyung smiled at him. “Decide to sign up or something?” Jungkook shook his head before asking Taehyung if he had, the other male also shaking his head no. “I just wanted to check out the auditions, seeing as I didn’t really have anything else to do during free period.”

Jungkook nodded. “Same here.” The two then moved from the small alcove to sit in the very back row to watch the rest of the auditions take place.

At the very end of auditions, Heechul called for Seokjin and Hoseok to take the stage and show everyone how things were done. “What key?” Soohyun, the composer who wrote all of the songs for the musical, asked them as they took their spots.

“Oh, our rehearsal pianist did an arrangement.” Hoseok held up his phone before plugging it into a speaker.

Seokjin did some very exaggerated vocal exercises before getting into place next to Hoseok, the opening notes of an extremely upbeat version of the song Jungkook had heard at least a hundred times by that point rang through the auditorium. The stepsiblings performed the song quite well with an elaborate dance routine accompanying it, earning a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of their audition.

“Seokjin!” Soohyun runs up to the male as everyone starts leaving the theatre, except for Heechul who is calling out for any last-minute auditions. “Don’t get me wrong, your performance was good, but if you get the part, I imagined that song to be so much slower and more emotional-“

“Excuse me, ‘if’?” Seokjin interrupted the girl. “Soohyun, sweetie, I’ve been in 17 school productions.” Soohyun nodded slightly. “And how many of those productions used your compositions?”

Soohyun looked down at her hands. “This is the first.”

“Exactly!” Seokjin exclaimed. “And that means I know more about how a performance should go than some nobody who should feel grateful that I and my brother are here to make people aware you even exist.” Soohyun stayed quiet as Seokjin smiled at her. “Have a good day!”

As the auditorium cleared out, Heechul called out one final time for any last-minute signups for the auditions. “We should probably head out of here.” Jungkook whispered to Taehyung, moving out of his chair and towards the exit.

“None?” Heechul asked one more time. “Alright, tis finished!”

With a burst of confidence, Taehyung ran forward and yelled, “I’d like to audition, Heechul!”

Jungkook watched wide eyed, wondering what in the hell Taehyung was doing. “Timeliness means something in the world of theater.” Heechul informed Taehyung. “The solo auditions are long over, and there are no other pairs.”

Jungkook sighed before stepping forward so Heechul could see him too. “I’ll sing with him.”

“Jeon Jungkook?” Heechul asked in surprise. “Where is your little sports posse or whatever you call them?”

“My team~” Jungkook stated. “And it’s just me. I’m here to sing with Taehyung.”

Heechul hummed condescendingly. “We take these shows very seriously here at East High. I called for the pairs audition, and you didn’t respond. Free period is now over.”

“But he has an amazing voice!” Jungkook tried to convince the teacher, but Heechul was having none of it as he continued to leave the auditorium, saying that they could try again when it was time for the spring musical.

Jungkook was about to turn to Taehyung and apologize when a large thud caught their attention. They turned to the stage to see Soohyun had tripped, her music sheets scattering across the floor. The two males rushed up to the stage to help her, causing the girl to stare at them in shock, especially at Jungkook. “You’re the composer?” Jungkook asked her and Soohyun nodded quietly. “That means you’re, like, the most important person in this show.”

Soohyun furrowed her eyebrows. “I am?”

Jungkook nodded. “Without you and your music, there wouldn’t be a musical.”

Soohyun smiled at him. “Do you want to hear how the duet is actually supposed to sound?”

Taehyung and Jungkook said they would, so Soohyun rushed back to the piano and set up her sheet music to begin playing the piece she had worked so hard on. Without any question or hesitation, Jungkook began to sing at the proper time. “ _It’s hard to believe…that I couldn’t see…you were always there beside me…_ ”

Taehyung picked up with the next part, his voice captivating Jungkook just as much as it had the first time he’d heard it. “ _Thought I was alone…with no one to hold…but you were always right beside me…_ ”

The two of them finished out the song together, Soohyun smiling widely as she finally heard her song being performed the way it was meant to be. “Jeon! Kim!” The teenagers jumped and turned around to see Heechul standing at the back of the auditorium, obviously having heard their performance. “You have a callback! Soohyun, give them the duet from the second act and work on it with them.”

Soohyun jumped at that, automatically making plans with Taehyung for rehearsal times while Jungkook just tried to figure out how his life had gotten to that point.


	4. Stick to the Status Quo

“CALLBACK?!” Seokjin’s scream after seeing the callback announcements on the student activities board rang through the entire school, causing everyone around to look in his direction.

Hoseok squinted a bit as he read off the paper. “Callback for roles Adam and Steve next Thursday at 3:30 pm. Kim Seokjin and Jung Hoseok. Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook.”

“Is this some kind of joke?!” Seokjin exclaimed in exasperation. “They didn’t even audition!”

“Maybe we’re being pranked!” Hoseok turned to his stepbrother with wide eyes. “Maybe they’re filming us for some kind of variety show right now!”

Seokjin pushed the other slightly. “Shut up, Hoseok!”

The basketball team then arrived for the school day, already laughing at Seokjin’s obvious distress. “What’s wrong?” Yoongi asked in a condescending voice before taking a look at the callback announcements, smile falling as he saw his best friend’s name listed.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Seokjin paced frustratedly in front of his lunch table where the rest of the drama club members sat. “How dare he sign up! I already picked out the colors for my dressing room!” Soohyun silently glanced up at Seokjin.

“And he hasn’t even asked our permission to join the drama club.” Hoseok stated calmly, obviously not nearly as upset as his stepbrother was over the situation.

Seokjin slammed his hand on the table, making everyone flinch. “Someone’s gotta tell him the rules.”

“Exactly!” Hoseok agreed before furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “And what are the rules?” Seokjin groaned, turning away from his table and walking to the railing, resting his arms on it as he watched over the rest of the lunchroom.

Down below, Namjoon was also pacing around his lunch table. He nervously licked his lips before approaching his friends. “Guys, I have a confession to make.” Everyone turned to him. “Now don’t get me wrong, basketball is still my number one and I would never give it up for anything…but I also have another passion.” Yoongi raised his eyebrow. “I love gardening.” He can hear some whispers and giggles coming from the group as Yoongi asked him what the hell he was talking about. “Gardening is so peaceful and calming! Planting seeds and nurturing a flower until it reaches its full potential is one of the greatest things in the world! I’m also working on mastering the art of bonsai.”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Yoongi’s response was definitely not what Namjoon had been hoping for, so the plant lover slowly sat down at the table to silently eat his lunch.

A couple of tables away, Momo sat with some of the other nerds, looking up after overhearing Namjoon’s confession. “Guys, I have to be honest.” Her friends looked up from their textbooks, urging her to go on. “Dance is my passion!” She stood up and showed off some of her favorite moves. “It’s even better than getting extra credit!” Her friends immediately scolded her for stating such blasphemy, making her slowly sit back down with a pout.

Someone from the stoner table suddenly felt inspired by the other two’s, plus Jungkook’s, reveals. He stood up and announced, “I play the cello!”

His best friend looked up at him lazily. “What the fuck is a cello?”

“It’s a string instrument that plays in the range of…” He trailed off as his friend blinked at him. “It’s like a giant violin.” He said slowly, his friend’s eyes widening in realization.

“Why would you wanna do that?”

More and more people began to feel more confident about their secret hobbies, standing up to announce to the entire lunchroom about their true passions. With each new confession, Seokjin gripped onto the railing tighter to the point that his knuckles were as white as they could possibly be. Finally, he got fed up enough that he yelled out over everyone, “EVERYBODY JUST SHUT UP!”

Jimin and Taehyung entered the lunchroom to complete silence, everyone soon turning to stare at the newcomers. Taehyung looked at his new friend in confusion. “Why is everyone staring at you?”

“They’re not staring at me.” Jimin snorted a bit. “They’re staring at _you_.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened. “Because of the callbacks?” Jimin nodded. “I can’t have people staring at me! I really can’t!”

Noise erupted through the room once more, people cheering Taehyung on for going after what he wanted while others were shaming him for disrupting the flow of their school. Taehyung tried to edge his way through the room to find a quiet, peaceful area before he fell into a full-on panic attack.

Seokjin watched the male’s struggle, moving to go down the stairs to main area of the lunchroom to finally confront him for trying to steal his role. Just as he reached the floor, Taehyung slipped on some spilled milk, his food flying off his tray and landing on Seokjin’s shirt. Nearly everyone in the room gasped at the incident as Seokjin screamed as if he were being murdered.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Taehyung exclaimed sincerely, grabbing some napkins off a nearby table to try to help him clean it off.

Jimin stopped his friend, pulling him away from the trembling fury that was Seokjin. “For your safety, it’s better to just leave.”

Jungkook finally entered the lunchroom and saw the aftermath of everything, moving to rush over to Taehyung only for Yoongi to stop him. “You do not want to get into that drama, trust me.”

Heechul appeared next to Seokjin after having been informed of some ruckus in the cafeteria. “What is going on in here?!”

“Look at me!” Seokjin screamed as he turned to the teacher. “That Taehyung boy just dumped his lunch on me on purpose! It’s all part of their plan to ruin our musical! And Jungkook and his basketball clones are obviously behind it! Why else would he have auditioned!” He took a deep breath before continuing. “After all the hard work you’ve put into this show…it’s just not fair!” Seokjin stormed out of the cafeteria.

Jungkook looked at Yoongi in confusion. “What the hell just happened?”

“What the hell just happened?” Yoongi repeated. “Hmm, gee, let’s see! You missed free period workout to audition for some heinous musical, and now people are suddenly confessing!” He reached out and grabbed Namjoon’s arm and tugged him over. “Namjoon is learning the art of bonsai!”

Jungkook looked at his friend and teammate with wide eyes. “Ooh, what is that?!”

Namjoon smiled at the fact that someone was taking a sincere interest in his hobby. “It’s the process of growing and pruning tiny trees to-“

“Oh, shut up, Namjoon!” Namjoon’s smile fell and glared a bit at Yoongi before stalking off. “Do you not see what’s happening here?” Yoongi asked as Jungkook sat down and started eating his lunch. “Our team is falling apart because of your singing thing! I mean, the drama geeks and the nerds think they’re allowed to talk to us now!” He pointed to where Namjoon was now talking to the cello player. “Even the stoners are mingling! People think they can do other stuff that’s not their stuff! You’re sitting here thinking about showtunes when we’ve got the most important game of the year next week.” Yoongi finally stormed off in frustration, leaving Jungkook to eat his lunch alone and contemplate his life choices.


	5. When There Was Me and You

Heechul stormed into Coach Jeon’s office. “Alright, what game are you playing at?” Jungkook’s father just raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Are you really that irked by me putting your star players in detention?”

“What are you even talking about?”

“Your all-star son showed up at my audition.” The coach’s eyes widened a bit. “Now, I give every student a fair chance to showcase their talent, as is the long and honorable tradition, something I know you have trouble understanding. But if he is planning some sort of monstrosity in my chapel of the arts-“

Coach Jeon raised his hand up to cut Heechul off. “You can’t expect me to believe this. Jungkook doesn’t even sing!”

Heechul huffed a bit. “Well, you’re wrong about that. But I will not allow my winter musicale to be made into a farce!” He dramatically spun around and stalked out of the office.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

After getting a new lunch, Jimin and Taehyung finally found a peaceful place to enjoy their food. Or not. “Is Seokjin really mad at me?” Taehyung asked in worry. “I apologized and I sincerely meant it.”

“No one’s beaten Seokjin out for a musical since kindergarten.” Jimin explained.

Taehyung quickly shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to beat anyone out! We didn’t even audition, we were just singing.”

The shorter male shrugged as he picked up his milk carton. “Good luck convincing Seokjin of that. Trust me, if that boy could figure out a way to play both lead roles, his own stepbrother would be pushed out.”

“I told you it just happened.” Taehyung insisted before a soft smile spread across his face. “But I liked it…a lot.” Jimin raised his eyebrows a bit before taking a bite of his lunch. “Have you ever felt like there was a whole other person inside you just looking for a way to come out?”

Jimin tilted his head as he thought that over before finally shaking his head. “Not really~”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Seokjin rummaged through his locker to find one of his extra outfits he always made sure to have on hand as Namjoon approached him. “Hey, Seokjin~” The male barely glanced his way. “I was thinking, since Jeon Jungkook’s going to be in your show-“

A finger was suddenly pressed against Namjoon’s lips to shut him up, the owner glaring at him. “Jeon Jungkook is not in my show!” Seokjin lowered his finger to pull out the clothes he’d finally found.

“Okay then. Anyway, I thought maybe you could come watch me play sometime.”

Seokjin feigned a smile before stepping closer to the taller male. “I’d rather stick needles in my eyes.”

Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?”

“Evaporate, freaky giant!” Seokjin slammed his locker door and stomped off to the bathroom.

“I’m barely taller than you.” Namjoon grumbled to himself before walking away forlornly.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

When Taehyung opened his locker, a piece of paper fluttered down. He quickly shoved his textbook inside before bending down to pick it up, a smile appearing on his face as he read the note. Within a few minutes, he found himself joining Jungkook on the roof of the school. “It’s beautiful up here!” He exclaimed, taking in all the flowers that were set up. “I love the view!”

“Much better than the one in the cafeteria.” Jungkook mused, causing Taehyung to let out a laugh.   
“Yeah, I just humiliated myself into the next century.” He sighed in relaxation as he continued looking around. “So, this is your private hideout?”

Jungkook nodded. “Thanks to the botany club, which means my buddies don’t even know it exists…except maybe Namjoon.”

Taehyung smiled at the other male. “You have this school in the palm of your hand, huh?” Jungkook waved that thought off. “Everyone on this campus wants to be your friend.”

“Unless we lose.” Jungkook deadpanned.

“I’m sure it’s hard being the coach’s son.” Taehyung looked at him in sympathy.

The basketball player shrugged. “It makes me work harder.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “I don’t know what he’s gonna say about the singing.” Taehyung tilted his head a bit. “My parents’ friends are always saying, ‘Your son’s the basketball guy. You must be so proud of him.’” Jungkook turned to look at Taehyung. “Sometimes I don’t want to be the basketball guy. I just want to be a guy.”

Taehyung smiled softly at him. “The way you treated Soohyun at the audition yesterday. Does anyone else know _that_ guy?”

Jungkook scoffed a bit. “To them I’m just the captain.”

“Then they don’t know enough about you.” Taehyung offered as he sat down on the bench a few feet away from where they were standing. “At my other schools, I was the freaky math boy. It’s great coming here and being anyone I wanna be. When I was singing with you…I just felt like a boy.”

Jungkook widened his eyes in mock realization. “You even looked like one too!”

Taehyung laughed as the other male sat next to him. “Do you remember in kindergarten how you’d meet a kid and know nothing about them, then ten seconds later you’re playing like you’ve been best friends forever? Just from being yourself with them? Singing with you felt like that.”

A blush grew across Jungkook’s cheeks as he smiled. “I never thought about singing before…until you.”

Taehyung looked at Jungkook shyly, his own cheeks burning. “Do you wanna do the callbacks?”

“Just call me freaky callback boy.”

Giggles erupted out of Taehyung, Jungkook smiling back at him. When he calmed down, Taehyung smiled again. “You’re a great guy, Jungkook. And not for the reasons your friends think.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, neither knowing what else to say, but also not needing to say anything, until the bell rang, informing them that they were late to their next class. They both cursed under their breaths, jumping off the bench and running to the stairs to head back down to the school.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook ran into the gym after finally getting out of yet another detention, as had been the norm since he and Taehyung had started skipping class and being late to class because of their rehearsals for the callbacks, only to find that practice was over and all of his teammates were leaving. The teenager avoided looking at his father, who he knew was seething with disappointment. “I think I’m gonna stay awhile and work on some free throws.”

His father nodded. “Good, your team deserves a little effort from you today.” He exited the gym, Jungkook sighing as he got into position to shoot the ball.

After a few practice throws, someone’s voice made him jump. “So, this is your real stage?” He whirled around to see Taehyung approaching him.

“I guess you could call it that.” Jungkook responded with a laugh. “Or you could just call it the smelly gym.” Taehyung held his hands out for the ball, Jungkook happily handing it over and watching as Taehyung moved to stand in front of him and took a shot, managing to make it in on the first try. “Don’t tell me your good at basketball too!”

Taehyung cocked his head and clicked his tongue. “I once scored 41 points at a league championship game.” Jungkook’s eyes widened as he asked if he was being serious. “Oh, totally. And on the same day I invented sliced bread.”

Jungkook scoffed, faking some laughter. “Sliced bread, very funny.” He took the ball back from Taehyung in order to keep practicing. “By the way, I missed practice today, so if I get kicked off the team, that’s on you.”

“I wasn’t the one who-“

“Taehyung,” Jungkook turned to him with a smile. “I’m just kidding. You’re fine.” Taehyung suddenly grabbed the ball from Jungkook’s hands and started bouncing around to tease the other male. “You’re traveling.” He informed Taehyung, watching him with a fond smile. He finally stepped forward to try to take the ball, but Taehyung took off running with it. “That’s really bad traveling!” Jungkook called out as he chased the male, catching him by the waist and spinning him around as he laughed loudly.

“This is a closed practice!” Both teenagers stopped laughing and turned to where Jungkook’s father had returned to the gym.

“Dad, practice is over.”

“Not until the last player leaves.” The man was adamant. “Team rule.”

Taehyung bit his lip shyly. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t know.”

“Dad, this is Kim Taehyung.” Jungkook introduced, and Taehyung held his hand out to the older male.

Jungkook’s father just nodded slightly. “Your detention buddy.”

Taehyung’s hand fell back by his side and he bit his lip again, handing the ball back to Jungkook. “I’ll see you later.” He told him before turning back to the coach. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Jeon.”

They watched as Taehyung scurried out of the gym, Jungkook turning to his dad with a look of annoyance once he was gone. “Detention was my fault, not his.”

“You haven’t missed practice in three years. That boy shows up-“

“That boy,” Jungkook interrupted his father, “is named Taehyung. And he’s very nice.”

Jungkook’s father scoffed. “Helping you miss practice doesn’t make him very nice. Not in my book or your team’s.”

“Dad, he’s not a problem! He’s just a guy!”

“But _you’re_ not just a guy, Jungkook!” His father exclaimed. “You’re the captain. What you do affects not only this team but the entire school.” Jungkook bit his lip. “And without you completely focused, we’re not gonna win next week. Championship games don’t come along all the time. They’re special.”

Jungkook sighed. “A lot of things are special, Dad.”

His father laughed a bit. “Yeah, but you’re a basketball player not a singer.”

“Did you ever think that maybe I could be both?!” The teenager exclaimed, dropping the basketball and storming out of the gym. He yanked his shirt over his head on his way to the locker room, missing the group of his friends that had obviously been eavesdropping on the conversation between the father and son.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“What spell has this demon cast on you to make you suddenly want to audition for a musical?!” Yoongi interrogated his best friend as he followed him around the library.

Jungkook rolled his eyes. “I just did it. Who cares?”

Yoongi scoffed as the taller male went back to perusing the shelves for the book he needed. “Who cares? How about your most loyal best friend?”

“Quiet Mr. Min!” The librarian appeared to scold him.

“It’s him, Mrs. Choi, not me!” Once she disappeared, he turned back to Jungkook. “Look, you’re a basketball guy. Not a musical singer person.” Jungkook sighed and rolled his eyes again, walking off only for Yoongi to keep following him. “Have you ever seen Cho Seungwoo on a cereal box?”

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows as he finally found the book he needed. “Who the fuck is Cho Seungwoo?”

“Exactly my point!” Yoongi followed Jungkook as he went to find a table to sit at. “He’s some actor guy that my mom is obsessed with. She put his picture in our refrigerator. Not on it! In it!” Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head as he tried to process that information. “So, my point is, if you play basketball, you’re gonna end up on a cereal box. If you sing in musicals, you’ll end up in my mom’s refrigerator.”

“Why would she put his picture in her refrigerator?” Jungkook finally asked, having been stuck on that detail.

“One of her crazy diet ideas, I’m not even gonna try to understand what goes on in her head!” Mrs. Choi reappeared, glaring at the pair. “It’s frightening territory.” Yoongi whispered as the two finally found a table to sit at. “How can you expect the rest of us to be focused on a game if you’re off somewhere in leotards and doing jazz squares?”

“No one said anything about leotards.”

“Not yet, my friend, but just you wait.” Yoongi sighed. “We need you, Captain. Now more than ever.” Mrs. Choi appeared again to scold Yoongi. “I’ve tried telling him, Mrs. Choi!” The teenager looked at his best friend with a meaningful look. “I’ve really tried.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Seokjin furrowed his eyebrows as he saw Yoongi, Namjoon, and Yugyeom enter the chemistry lab and strike up a conversation with Jimin. He grabbed Hoseok’s arm to keep him from walking off and tugged him closer to the room. “Something’s not right.”

Yoongi slammed his basketball on the counter in front of Jimin, making the male look up and glare at him. “We need to talk.”

“Why would I want to talk to you?”

“It’s about Taehyung and Jungkook.” Jimin’s glare was replaced by a look of curiosity.

In the hallway, Seokjin was still trying to figure out exactly why the people in question were mingling. “They must be trying to figure out a way to make sure Taehyung and Jungkook get the roles.” Hoseok whispered. “You know, the jocks rule most of the school, but if they get Jungkook into a musical…then they’ve conquered the entire student body.”

“And if the science freaks get Taehyung hooked up with Jeon Jungkook…the scholastic club goes from drool to cool.” Seokjin stood up straight and turned to his stepbrother. “Hoseok, we need to save our show form people who don’t know the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk.”

Inside the room, Jimin raised an eyebrow at Yoongi after the jock finished explaining his plan. “You really think that’s going to work?”

Yoongi shrugged. “It’s the only way to save Taehyung and Jungkook from themselves.” Jimin sighed as he nodded slightly in agreement. “We got a deal?” Jimin nodded again. “Great, so we start tomorrow then.”

“Alright, tomorrow~” Jimin responded, and Yoongi gave him a smile before leaving the room, leaving the chemistry club president wondering why his cheeks were suddenly burning.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

During lunch time, Jungkook walked around the empty locker room, confused as to where all his friends were when they’d asked him to meet them there. He finally found them in the very back of the room, set up with all the trophies the school had won over the years. Jungkook was about to ask them what was going on when Yoongi suddenly held up a picture of a former team member and began listing off his achievements. Jungkook’s confusion kept growing as multiple team members followed in the same fashion with various former players.

“These are all legends!” Yoongi finally exclaimed. “But do you think that any of these Wildcat legends became legends by getting involved in musical auditions mere days before the league championships? No! These Wildcat legends became legends because they never took their eye off the prize.” He looked back at the rest of the team before continuing. “Who was the first ever sophomore to make starting varsity?”

“Jungkook!” The rest of the team answered.

“So, who voted him team captain this year?”

“Us!”

“And who is gonna get their sorry asses kicked in Friday’s championship game if Jungkook’s worried about an audition?”

“We are…”

“Guys!” Jungkook finally interrupted, stepping forward. “There are 12 people on this team, not just me.”

Yoongi tilted his head. “Only 12? I believe you’re forgetting a 13th, very important member of this team.” He handed Jungkook another framed picture and Jungkook found himself staring at a teenage version of his dad. “Jeon Hajoon. Wildcat basketball champion, class of 1979. Champion, father, and now coach.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jimin set his laptop in front of Taehyung, slideshow that he had worked very hard on the night before already set up. “From lowly Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, to early warriors, to medieval knights. All leading up to…” He pressed the button to show an extremely derpy picture of Jungkook that made Taehyung laugh. “Lunkhead basketball man. Yes, our culture has worshipped the aggressor throughout the ages, and we end up with spoiled, overpaid, bonehead athletes who contribute little to society other than slam dunks and touchdowns. That is the inevitable world of Jeon Jungkook.” Taehyung couldn’t help but giggle, rolling his eyes slightly at his friend’s ‘intervention’. “But the path of the mind, the path we’re on. Ours is the path that has brought us these people: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Michelle and Barack Obama! And so many others who the world reveres.”

Taehyung let out another giggle. “What does this…Soohyun is waiting for me to go rehearse-“

“Taehyung!” The male quickly sat back down in his chair. “Jeon Jungkook represents one side of evolution. And our side, the side of education and accomplishment, is the future of society! _This_ is the side where you belong!”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“Guys,” Jungkook stated, “if you don’t know that I’ll put 110% into that game, then you don’t know me.”

Yoongi shrugged. “We just thought-“

“No, I’ll tell you what I thought!” Jungkook nearly yelled. “I thought you were my friends! Win together, lose together, teammates.”

Yoongi feigned confusion, subtly gesturing for the others to move forward with the plan. “But Taehyung…and the singing…”

“I’m for the team!” Jungkook exclaimed, not noticing the camera now being trained on him. “I’ve always been for the team! He’s just someone I met!”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jimin’s slideshow suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a livestream of Jungkook. Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows as he focused on the boy, feeling his heart drop with every word that came out of his mouth. “ _The singing thing is nothing! Just a way to keep my nerves down. It means nothing to me! You’re my guys, and this is our team! Taehyung is not important!_ ” A small gasp escaped Taehyung and his eyes burned as he tried to hold back tears. “ _I’ll forget about her, forget the audition, and we’ll go out and get that championship! Everyone happy now?_ ”

The screen went black, but Taehyung was still staring at it as Jimin spoke. “Behold lunkhead basketball man.” Taehyung took a shaky breath as he looked down at his lap. “So, Taehyung, we’d love to have you for the scholastic decathlon. Do you wanna go get some lunch?”

Taehyung blinked a bit before forcing a smile on his face. “Can I just have a minute?”

Jimin nodded. “I’ll be in the cafeteria when you’re ready.” Once the shorter male had gone, Taehyung finally let a few tears slip down his cheeks.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook walked to Taehyung as he was pulling books out of his locker. “Hey, what’s up?” He furrowed his eyebrows a bit when the male didn’t respond or even look at him but shook it off. “I wanna talk to you about something-“

“And here it is.” Taehyung interrupted, turning to face Jungkook. “I know what it’s like to put your friends first over anything else. I get it. You’ve got your team, Jungkook. It’s okay.”

The basketball player furrowed his eyebrows again. “What’s okay? I wanted to talk about the callbacks.”

Taehyung shook his head slightly. “I don’t wanna do the callbacks either.” Jungkook opened his mouth to ask Taehyung what he was talking about, but the male continued. “Who are we trying to fool? You’ve got your team, and I’ve got mine. I’ll do the scholastic decathlon and you’ll win the championship. It’s where we belong.” He turned back towards his locker and pulled out the sheet music he had been rehearsing so diligently up until that point, handing the paper to Jungkook. “Go Wildcats~”

Jungkook watched in confusion as Taehyung walked away, wondering what happened to make the male change his mind so drastically.


	6. Bop to the Top

The next few days were spent in frustration for both Jungkook and Taehyung. Jungkook was so lost in his thoughts that it was affecting everything from his schoolwork to basketball. Even Jungkook’s father and some of his teammates had noticed that his game was off as he failed to score any goals or properly block anyone during practices.

Taehyung had taken his original plan of hiding in the shadows to the extreme, not talking to or interacting with the exception of scholastic decathlon practice, and even then he just did his part to practice and was the first one to leave once the day was over. He wouldn’t even accept Jimin’s offers to eat lunch with him and the other members of the team despite the male’s best efforts to include him.

One day, Jimin was once again waving his hand in the air to get Taehyung’s attention and wave him over but stopped when he saw the male nearly running into Jungkook. They held eye contact for a good amount of time before Jungkook opened his mouth to speak, but Taehyung just rolled his eyes and pushed past him, choosing a random table with an empty seat to eat his lunch at.

“Hey, Jungkook!” Yoongi called out as he noticed his best friend, but Jungkook just shook his head and left the cafeteria completely, obviously planning on finding some other place to spend his lunch.

Yoongi and Jimin found each other’s eyes across the cafeteria, and with one luck they had a silent agreement that they had fucked up and needed to do something to fix it.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook was up on the rooftop when Yoongi, Namjoon, and Yugyeom found him. “So, we, uh, just had another team meeting.” Yoongi said.

“Great~” Jungkook said sarcastically, biting into his sandwich.

“We had a team meeting about…” Yoongi shared a look with the other two before turning back to Jungkook with sigh. “About how we haven’t been acting like a team. Us, not you.” Jungkook didn’t look up from his lunch, prompting his best friend to sigh again. “About the singing thing-“

Jungkook shook his head to cut him off. “Don’t.”

“We just want you to know that we’re gonna be there.” Yoongi informed him, causing his eyebrows to furrow in confusion. “To support you and cheer for you.”

The confusion still present on Jungkook’s face made Namjoon jump in. “If singing is what you wanna do, we should be building you up, not tearing you down.”

Yoongi nodded in agreement. “Win or lose, we’re teammates. That’s what we’re about.” The basketball player then stepped forward and playfully punched his best friend on the arm. “Even if you turn out to be the worst singer in the world.”

“Which we don’t know since we haven’t heard you sing. Like ever.” Yugyeom pointed out.

Jungkook let out a scoff as he shook his head again. “And you’re not gonna ever hear me sing. Taehyung won’t even talk to me and I don’t know why.”

The three basketball players shared guilty looks. “We do.” Yoongi admitted.

“I brought you a tree!” Namjoon blurted out, stepping forward and revealing the bonsai tree he had been hiding behind his back. “Just wanted to give that to you before we tell you everything.” Jungkook just continued to stare at them in confusion.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“I’m an asshole.” Taehyung jumped at the sudden voice, looking up at Jimin. “No, I’m worse than an asshole. I’m a little turdnugget that someone missed when wiping their asshole.” If Taehyung weren’t so heartbroken at the moment, he would have laughed at his friend’s statement. “I thought Jungkook and the singing thing was killing my chance of having you on the scholastic decathlon team.”

Taehyung sighed quietly. “I heard what he had to say. I’m on your team now. Let’s move on.”

“No, we’re not moving on!” Jimin moved forward to stop Taehyung from turning back to his work. “Yoongi knew that he could get Jungkook to say things to make you want to forget about the callbacks, so he and I put together this plan. I fully regret everything, and I am truly, deeply sorry.”

Taehyung shook his head. “No one forced Jungkook to say anything. I’m fine, it’s okay. We should be preparing for the decathlon, not talking about this.”

“It’s not okay!” Jimin insisted. “The decathlon is whatever, but how you feel about me, and more importantly, Jungkook, is what truly matters.” Jimin watched as Taehyung quietly turned back to his work, obviously not planning on continuing the discussion. The male sighed and walked away.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook knocked on the door before sliding his hands into his pockets, looking around as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. The door opened just a few minutes later, revealing Taehyung’s mother. “Hi, Ms. Kim, I’m Jeon Jungkook.”

“Oh, Jungkook!” Taehyung’s mother glanced over her shoulder to see her son had come downstairs to see who it was and was now shaking his head, mouthing that he didn’t want to see the male on their front porch. “Um…” The woman turned back to Jungkook, who was looking at her with hope in his eyes. “Taehyung is really busy with homework right now.”

Jungkook sighed. “I made a mistake, Ms. Kim, and I would really like to let Taehyung know that. Could you please tell him that I came by?” Taehyung’s mother nodded, promising the teenager that she would before bidding him goodnight and closing the door. Jungkook stepped off the porch, looking back at the house as he got an idea. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked on Taehyung’s number, bringing the electronic to his ear as it started to ring.

Taehyung was reading on his bed when his phone started ringing. He put his book to the side in order to check his phone, sighing when he saw Jungkook’s name on the screen. “Hello?” He answered in a quiet voice.

“What you heard, none of that is true!” Jungkook rushed out, afraid that the other male would hang up on him if he didn’t hurry. “I was just tired of my friends jumping on me, so I just said whatever in order to shut them up. I swear I didn’t mean any of it.”

Taehyung sat up straighter, reaching over to turn on his lamp to provide more light than his desk lamp currently gave. “You sounded pretty convincing to me.”

Jungkook’s eyes lit up as he saw a light turn on in a window upstairs, looking around the yard to see if there was any way he could climb up there. “The guy you met on vacation is way more me than the guy who said all those stupid things.” Jungkook assured him as his eyes landed on a tree that rested close enough to the house that he could easily climb onto the balcony from it.

“This whole singing thing is making the entire school go crazy!” Taehyung exclaimed, now pacing around his bedroom. “You said it yourself, everyone’s treating you differently because of it.”

“That’s because I don’t want to only be the basketball guy anymore! They can’t handle it, but that’s their problem. Not mine, and not yours.”

Taehyung scoffed quietly. “And what about your dad?”

“This isn’t about my dad.” Jungkook rebutted. “This is about me and how I feel. So, I’m gonna sing, what about you?”

“I don’t know, Jungkook.” Taehyung gave a small shrug as if the other male could see him.

“Well you should say yes because I brought you something.” Taehyung’s eyebrows furrowed as he stopped in his pacing.

“What do you mean you brought me something?”

Jungkook was quiet for a second before responding. “Turn around.”

Taehyung slowly turned around to face the doors that led out to his balcony, eyes widening in surprise when he saw Jungkook standing outside. He quickly ended their call and walked over to the doors, slowly opening them as Jungkook began to sing the song that had first brought them together. “ _This could be the start…of something new…it feels so right…to be here with you oh…and now looking in your eyes…I feel in my heart…the start of something new…_ ” A soft smile now stretched across Taehyung’s face, a few tears making his eyes glisten as Jungkook held up a familiar sheet of paper. “It’s a pairs audition.”

Taehyung let out a small laugh as he stepped forward, taking the sheet music from Jungkook’s hand. Jungkook smiled back at him, slowly reaching out his hand to take the other’s free hand in his.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Seokjin and Hoseok were walking down the hall, quietly running through their own audition song when two voices ringing out from the music room caught their attention. They stopped in their tracks listening closely to Jungkook and Taehyung’s rehearsal. Seokjin gasped as he heard Jungkook hitting a note that he never would have expected the basketball player to be able to reach. “They actually sound really good.” Hoseok stated, looking at his stepbrother nervously.

The other male scoffed as he stalked up to the door, peering in through the tiny window to spy on the two rehearsing their song with Soohyun. “We have to do something!” He stormed back over to Hoseok, gesturing for the male to follow him down the hall. “Our callback’s on Thursday. The basketball game and scholastic decathlon are on Friday.” Seokjin’s eyes widened in realization. “It’s too bad all these events aren’t happening on the same day…” He gave his brother a knowing look. “At the same time.”

Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows. “But then Jungkook and Taehyung wouldn’t be able to make the…” He trailed off as he finally realized what Seokjin was getting at. “I’m proud to call you my brother.”

Seokjin flicked his hair out of his eyes. “I know~”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“I don’t want to hear anymore about Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung!” Heechul exclaimed as Seokjin and Hoseok followed him around like ducklings. Soohyun, who had been sitting at the piano, quickly ducked down just as the trio entered the backstage area. “But if you’re telling me as co-presidents of the drama club that changing the callbacks would be what’s best for our theater program…” Heechul stopped and turned to the siblings. “I might actually agree with you.” Seokjin and Hoseok shared a look as their teacher walked off.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Soohyun was glaring at the student activities board when Jungkook and Taehyung arrived at school, followed by their friends. Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed as he noticed the girl, quickly taking a look at the board himself. “The callbacks are the same time as the game?!” He exclaimed in disbelief.

“And the scholastic decathlon!” Taehyung added on as he saw the announcement for himself.

“Why would they do that?” Jimin asked.

Yoongi just rolled his eyes. “I smell a rat named Heechul.”

“Actually, two rats.” Soohyun jumped in. “Neither of them named Heechul.”

Yoongi looked down at the girl. “Do you know something about this…person I don’t know?”

Soohyun rolled her eyes slightly at the basketball player before turning to Jungkook. “Heechul thinks he’s protecting the show, but Seokjin and Hoseok are only protecting themselves.”

“You know what I’m gonna do to them?” Yoongi exclaimed in anger, only for Namjoon to hold him back.

“Nothing.” Jungkook replied, turning to face the group of friends. “We’re not gonna do anything to them. Except sing, but only if we all work together to make it happen. Who’s in?” He held his hand out, Taehyung quickly placing his on top. Soohyun was next, followed by Yoongi, who sneakily took Jimin’s hand and intertwined their fingers. The chemistry club president’s cheeks turned pink as he announced that he was in, the rest of their friends also agreeing.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jungkook was lacing up his shoes in preparation for the championship game when his father entered the locker room. “How you feeling?”

“Nervous~” The teenager answered honestly.

His father nodded in agreement. “You know what I want from you today?”

Jungkook shrugged. “The championship.”

“That’ll come or it won’t.” His answer made Jungkook look up in confusion. “What I really want is for you to have fun. I know all about the pressure, and probably too much of it has come from me, and for that, I am truly sorry.” Jungkook gave his dad a small smile. “What I really want is to see my son having the time of his life playing the game we both love. If you give me that, and I will sleep with a smile on my face even if we score zero points.”

“You got it, Dad.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

As Taehyung, Jimin, and the rest of their team took their seats to prepare for the scholastic decathlon, Taehyung leaned closer to his best friend and whispered, “Everything’s ready?”

Jimin subtly gestured to laptop resting in front of him. “Just waiting for me to put in the codes.” He whispered back, a smile of relief spreading across Taehyung’s face.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

As Jungkook and Taehyung’s respective teams worked hard, Heechul announced the start of the callback auditions. “Seokjin and Hoseok!”

A spotlight lit up the right side of the stage as music with a Latin feel started playing through the auditorium. Hoseok stepped out of the wings and struck a pose. “ _Mucho gusto~_ ”

Another spotlight appeared on the other side, Seokjin stepping out into the light. “ _Ay que fabulosa~_ ”

The siblings fell into their elaborate song and dance routine, the few people in the audience watching in awe as they performed. “ _Yeah we’re gonna bop bop bop bop to the top!_ ”

Soohyun sighed out of boredom, checking her watch for the time and counting down the seconds until the plan to get Jungkook and Taehyung to the callbacks would commence.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Taehyung and Jimin shared a look as another one of their teammates went up for the next problem, the shorter male placing his hands on the keyboard. “I think it’s time for an orderly exit from the gym.” He whispered as he typed in a code.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

The basketball game came to a halt as the scoreboard started malfunctioning, an alarm blaring as the lights started flickering. “ _We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties._ ” The announcer stated, Jungkook letting out a laugh of disbelief as he realized this was Jimin’s doing to get him out of the game and into the auditorium for the callbacks. “ _Everyone remain calm while we try to figure this out._ ” Yoongi nudged Jungkook, causing the male to jump into action, sprinting out of the gym.

Jungkook’s father watched him go with a look of confusion, wondering what his son was up to.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“And now for us.” Jimin whispered, typing in another code before closing his laptop. He and Taehyung braced themselves as a chemical currently resting on a Bunsen burner started bubbling, smoke soon coming off of it.

A sharp odor spread through the room, the East High scholastic decathlon team rushing out of the room to get away from it while the coordinators of the event directed everyone to evacuate the room for the time being.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Once the principal announced that everyone would need to evacuate the gym as per safety regulations, the entire basketball team left the gym as nonchalantly as they could before running towards the auditorium.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

“ _Bop to the top!_ ” Seokjin and Hoseok struck their ending pose, a small amount of applause ringing through the auditorium as the lights went down on the stage.


	7. Breaking Free

"Do you see why we love the theatre, people?!" Heechul exclaimed as the applause finally started to die down after Seokjin and Hoseok's audition. "Amazing job, you two!" Heechul looked down at his clipboard before announcing the next pair. "Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung!" He looked up when all he got was silence. "Jungkook? Taehyung?" He called out again and the few people in the audience looked around as if searching for the two.

"They'll be here!" Soohyun assured Heechul, although there was worry in her eyes.

Heechul held up a hand to stop her. "The theatre, as I have often pointed out, waits for no one." Soohyun bit her lip before running off the stage. "Looks like we are done here!" Heechul announced, Seokjin and Hoseok sharing a smug look over their plan working. "The cast list will be posted-"

The doors at the back of the auditorium slamming open interrupted his closing remarks. "We're here!" Jungkook called out, he and Taehyung running down the aisle toward the stage. "We're ready! We can sing!"

"I called your names twice." Heechul informed them firmly as they ran up on the stage, coming to a stop next to him.

"Please, Heechul!" Taehyung begged.

Heechul shook his head. "Rules are rules." Before he could say anything further, loud noises filled the auditorium as a large crowd entered, fully of basketball players, scholastic decathlon team members, and other various students who were eager to see Jungkook and Taehyung filing in until there were no open seats in the room.

Seokjin and Hoseok rushed over to the center of the stage. "We'd be happy to do it again for our fellow students!" Seokjin offered eagerly, smiling out at the crowd.

"I don't know what's going on here…" Heechul looked over the audience, much larger than any audience he had seen in that very auditorium, with wide eyes. "…but in any event, it's far too late, and we have not got a pianist."

"That's showbiz." Hoseok stated with a small shrug.

"We'll sing without a piano!" Jungkook suggested, not noticing Soohyun running up behind him.

"No, you won't!" She exclaimed. "Pianist here, Heechul."

Seokjin stepped forward and glared at the girl. "You really don't want to do this."

Soohyun took a step towards him. "Oh, yes, I really do." Seokjin gasped in offense before turning to his teacher.

"Now _that_ is showbiz." Heechul stated before stalking off the stage, Seokjin and Hoseok less than happily following him.

Microphones were soon placed in Jungkook and Taehyung's hands, a rumble of nerves starting to fill Taehyung's stomach as he realized that he was actually about to sing in front of practically the entire student body. The opening chords to their audition song rang through the room, Jungkook lifting the microphone to prepare to sing the first lines until his gaze landed on Taehyung who had gone extremely pale. He gestured for Soohyun to stop and ran over to the other male. "I can't do it." Taehyung whispered, turning to Jungkook with an apologetic expression. "Not with everyone staring at me."

"Just look at me." Jungkook whispered back, squeezing Taehyung's hand. "Right at me, just like the first time we sang together. Like kindergarten." Taehyung gave the tiniest nod and Jungkook gestured for Soohyun to start playing again, giving Taehyung's hand one more squeeze.

This time as the music started, Taehyung didn't look out at the crowd. Instead he kept his gaze trained on Jungkook as the basketball player began to sing. " _We're soaring…flying…there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach…_ "

Taehyung quickly took a deep breath before singing, his voice coming out a bit shaky. " _If we're trying so we're breaking free…_ "

With each line Taehyung's voice grew stronger, the audience getting pushed further to the back of his mind as he got more into performing with Jungkook. The crowd also got more into the song, clapping along by the time they reached the first chorus. Some students even danced to the melody in their seats, Yoongi taking it a step further by standing up to cheer out for his best friend, Jimin following suit and dancing with the basketball player.

When the song finally came to an end, the entire auditorium burst into applause, Taehyung finally taking his eyes off of Jungkook to look over at the crowd as he remembered that he had just sang in front of all of those people and didn't pass out or puke. Taehyung turned back to Jungkook with excitement in his eyes. "I did it!"

"You did it." Jungkook smiled at him before laughing, Taehyung giggling with him.


	8. We're All In This Together

Namjoon and Yoongi both ran down the court, desperately trying to block the opposing team members from being able to pass the ball. The player ended up being just the tiniest bit too quick for them, breaking away and tossing the ball towards an open team member of his. At that moment, Jungkook appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stole the ball, shooting off in the opposite direction towards his own team's goal. Just before the buzzer sounded, Jungkook shot the ball through the air, it falling perfectly into the net as the deafening sound rang through the gym.

"THE EAST HIGH WILDCATS HAVE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP!"

The entire team rushed Jungkook in a huddle, the teenagers cheering and jumping as they celebrated their victory. Jungkook's father appears after a few seconds with their trophy, handing it to Jungkook as the rest of the team praises him for making the winning goal.

"WHAT TEAM?!"

"WILDCATS!"

"WHAT TEAM?!"

"WILDCATS!"

"WHAT TEAM?!"

"WILDCATS!"

"WILDCATS!"

"GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!"

Jungkook eventually managed to break free from the crowd, passing the trophy off to the rest of his teammates. "Bravo!" He heard someone shout in his ear, turning around to find Heechul surprisingly standing there.

"Oh, thank you." Jungkook said. "Bravo yourself."

Heechul patted him on the shoulder before walking off. Jungkook shook his head slightly before waving at some of his classmates who were still cheering his name. He then felt someone latching onto his back. Before he could scream in surprise, he heard a familiar voice exclaim, "Congratulations Wildcat!"

Jungkook whirled around to face Taehyung, arms subconsciously wrapping around the male's waist. "What about your team?!"

Taehyung's smile widened even more. "We won too!"

"That's amazing!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"I know!" Taehyung agreed before surging forward to press his lips to Jungkook's. After a couple of seconds that were used to process what was happening, Jungkook eagerly returned the kiss, pulling Taehyung closer to him.

A few feet away, Yoongi sneaked up behind Jimin who was totally not squealing over his best friend kissing his crush, or possibly now boyfriend. "You going to the after party?"

Jimin jumped slightly before turning to face Yoongi. "I don't know. It's not like I'll know anyone there."

"You'll know me." Yoongi stated with a shrug. "Guess I'll pick you up at 8:00."

"You don't even know my address." Jimin called after him as he started to walk away, to which the basketball player responded with something about using the class directory. A smile slowly spread across the teen's face as he rushed over to his best friend, no longer caring that he was interrupting his moment of staring lovingly into the basketball captain's eyes. "I think Yoongi just asked me out on a date."

Taehyung's eyes widened in shock "What?!" Before he could question Jimin further, Seokjin stalked up to him, Hoseok tailing him as usual.

"Congratulations." Seokjin said flatly, but Taehyung still noticed the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. "I'm assuming that you'll be the lead making me your understudy in the case that you can't make a show, so…break a leg." Seokjin's hardened expression broke as he started to giggle at Taehyung's fear-stricken face. "Don't worry, that's theatre talk for good luck." Taehyung let out a sigh of relief at that and Seokjin offered his congratulations once again before heading off through the crowd.

Before Seokjin could leave the gym, Namjoon appeared in front of him holding a bouquet of flowers. "I'm sorry you didn't get the part." He said sincerely. "But I still think you're amazing." He held the flowers up to the male, who looked at them with wide eyes.

"I get flowers all the time." Seokjin said quietly as he looked at the blooming bouquet in the taller male's hands, completely convinced that he had never seen such vibrant flowers in his lifetime. "But they're usually fake and from people trying to use me to get better roles in our productions." He gently took the bouquet from Namjoon and looked up at him. "Thank you."

The celebration in the gym continued for a considerable amount of time, the crowd only dispersing when the time for the after party loomed closer. Whether each teen decided to partake in further celebration activities or not, each one went home finally understanding what it meant to be one team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be on the lookout for the second one coming soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on twitter @ot7mikrokosm!!
> 
> Just a reminder that lack of comments is extremely discouraging. How is an author supposed to know that people are enjoying the work and want more (episcopal grads a sequel) if no one bothers to comment their thoughts? It’s extremely heartbreaking to log in multiple times a day and never have any comments to read, and it’s not recent. This is has been happening for months. I’m lucky if I get to read one comment, and that’s usually from older fics, none of the new ones that I’ve updated recently. So please take two seconds to comment something. Anything. I would even take negative hateful comments over complete silence.


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